Coventry is well known for its 2-Tone, for its Bhangra, its even got a pretty good name as an acoustic singer/songwriter base.

One other more obscure musical genre that Coventry excelled in is ‘Freakbeat’ music.

Although the name ‘Freakbeat’ is applied to certain bands of the late 60’s, the term wasn’t even invented until 1980.

The name was created by music Journalist Phil Smee, designed to define a small number of R ‘n’ B bands that were experimenting with their musical soundscapes, adding effects to their music to create a touch of the psychedelic.

Psychedelic I may add in sound alone, a ‘Freakbeat’ song would never get conceptual, or tell a tale of purple cosmic rainbows and the like. This was effectively Mod dance music, and fifty years ago Coventry’s Sorrows embarked on a career that would see them become in 2013 pretty much the kings of the ‘Freakbeat’, with their hit ‘Take A Heart’ being singled out as a Freakbeat masterpiece.

Though as we have established it was never called such a thing in those days, I still recall Sorrows current drummer telling me when I used the ‘Freakbeat’ term in my 2004 book Godiva Rocks, he actually thought it was a name that I had conjured up, it’s good to see that nowadays they use the term themselves in much of their publicity, and it’s helped the band to find new fans at the many European festivals they now play.

Decca ‘Freakbeat’ Scene CD

Rare CD is still a hit with me

Coventry ‘Freakbeat’ isn’t confined to the Sorrows however, grab yourself a copy of the Decca ‘Freakbeat’ Scene CD and along with bands like The Poets, The Attack and The New Breed, you will find Cov kid Shel Naylor singing his superb second single release, ‘One Fine Day’.

Shel Naylor’s real name of course is Rob Woodward. Despite ‘One Fine Day’ having been written by The Kinks Dave Davis and included two future Led Zeppelin members (Page and John Paul Jones). Shel/Rob would have to wait some nine years before he hit the charts with an entirely different sound altogether, the sound of Mouldy Old Dough and Lieutenant Pigeon.

I’m a proud owner of a very rare vinyl album entitled ‘English Freakbeat Volume 5’, it cost the proverbial arm and a leg, but it was definitely worth it to own an album that includes three more examples of prime Coventry ‘Freakbeat’ music namely: ‘Now Is The Time’ from The Peeps (including Martin Cure on vocals), ‘Hello Lady’ by The Pickwicks (like Shel Naylor they were another Larry Page managed band signed to Decca Records) and ‘You’re Still Mine’ by The Eggy (this band included Roger & Nigel Lomas, the song was originally a Sorrows demo track ). I

It’s a fascinating genre of music, with its thumping beats, it’s little wonder that the sound of ‘Freakbeat’ is being celebrated half a century on.